Canada Beats America to the Punch: Approves A Startup Visa for Immigrant Entrepreneurs
We are incredibly excited that Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC), in partnership with the Canadian Venture Capital Association (CVCA) approved an official Start-Up Visa (SUV) pilot program for business class immigrants: the Start-Up Business class. The goal of the SUV program is to facilitate the immigration of a new type of immigrant entrepreneur to Canada with the potential to build innovative companies that compete on a global scale and create jobs for Canadians.
Photo Credit: Mars Discovery
To be eligible for the SUV program, a foreign entrepreneur would be required to have a commitment from a designated private sector organization (Canadian business incubator, Canadian angel investor group, or Canadian venture capital fund) before they could apply to the CIC with their immigration application.How it all startedIn 2009, two talented Romanian developers and co-founders of the Internet startup, Summifywere accepted into the Bootup Labs accelerator program in Vancouver, BC Canada. With financial backing from accredited investors Danny Robinson and Boris Wertz, it was still challenging for the Romanian entrepreneurs to immigrate to Canada and build their business. Though frustrating, their immigrant journey inspired, in part, the formation of the Startup Visa Canada initiative and can be found here at startupvisa.ca.
Photo Credit: Danny RobinsonNothing is done alone
The SUV Canada campaign team started with just Boris Wertz, Danny Robinson and Maura Rodgers. In no time, the team grew to include Eric Brooke, Chris Arsenault, Mark MacLeod,David Crow and Mike Edwards and attracted the endorsement of over 60 technology leadersacross Canada. In addition, Vision Critical donated free public research allowing the team to survey Canadians and establish that:
МАҚОЛАНИ ДЎСТЛАР БИЛАН БАҲАМЛАШИНГ
To be eligible for the SUV program, a foreign entrepreneur would be required to have a commitment from a designated private sector organization (Canadian business incubator, Canadian angel investor group, or Canadian venture capital fund) before they could apply to the CIC with their immigration application.How it all startedIn 2009, two talented Romanian developers and co-founders of the Internet startup, Summifywere accepted into the Bootup Labs accelerator program in Vancouver, BC Canada. With financial backing from accredited investors Danny Robinson and Boris Wertz, it was still challenging for the Romanian entrepreneurs to immigrate to Canada and build their business. Though frustrating, their immigrant journey inspired, in part, the formation of the Startup Visa Canada initiative and can be found here at startupvisa.ca.
Photo Credit: Danny RobinsonNothing is done alone
The SUV Canada campaign team started with just Boris Wertz, Danny Robinson and Maura Rodgers. In no time, the team grew to include Eric Brooke, Chris Arsenault, Mark MacLeod,David Crow and Mike Edwards and attracted the endorsement of over 60 technology leadersacross Canada. In addition, Vision Critical donated free public research allowing the team to survey Canadians and establish that:
- 86% of Canadians believed Canada could become a real hub of entrepreneurial activity in North America with the right policies in place
- 72% thought Canada should act to stay ahead of the US in attracting entrepreneurial talent.
Getting and staying ahead.
While we are very happy to beat our American neighbours to the punch, the work is not over. It is now up to the incubators, accelerators, angels and VCs to attract and encourage the most talented entrepreneurs around the world to choose Canada as the best place to start and build their companies. After all, Canada has a lot to offer entrepreneurs including Universal Health care, a multi-cultural society, strong economy and is just a short flight away to thriving American tech hubs like NY or Silicon Valley.
More info:CVCA Press Release [pdf]Mission Accomplished – StartupVisa Canada by David CrowMission accomplished: Startup Visa Canada is here by Boris Wertz